Investec Comment: How a retail bond can give a firm the edge May 31, 2015 THE PROFESSIONAL rugby union club Wasps launched its debut retail bond at the London Stock Exchange last week, raising £35m. I was very proud to have been involved in the transaction, and it’s fair to say that the success of the issue is the latest sign of growing investor appetite for retail bonds in the [...]
These are the FinTech startups being backed by Citi May 29, 2015 Four FinTech startups have won $100,000 (£65,400) backing from Citi after a search for new technology and innovation to transform banking and business. London-based Swave, an app that encourages users to monitor spending and make saving easier, trading platform Trade It, a supply chain solution created by Umati Capital and textbook subscription app Kytabu were [...]
Kitstarter: All aboard Hornby’s new Airfix crowdfunding project May 29, 2015 Who said model planes were old fashioned? Hornby, the company behind Airfix, has launched its own crowdfunding project – called, naturally, "Kitstarter". The idea behind the scheme is that if an Airfix model no longer in production gets enough backing, it will bring it back. Model fans will be able to pre-order it via Hornby's [...]
City A.M. crowdfunding event a crowd pleaser May 28, 2015 It's a new sector that has recently seen fundraising for everything from the Veronica Mars movie to whisky. No wonder there was an enthusiastic crowd at City A.M.’s first crowdfunding conference, held in association with Another Crowd at the RAC yesterday. The calibre of the speakers – who included veteran fund manager Nicola [...]
British Business Bank puts £17.5m in Passions Partners’ fund May 27, 2015 British Business Bank has put £17.5m into Passion Partners’ £45m second fund. The investment is the 18th that the bank has made via its Enterprise Capital Funds programme. Passion Capital’s Eileen Burbidge told City A.M. last night that she is very positive about the financial technology scene in London that Passion invests in. [...]
Banking brain drain: Why finance risks losing its best talent to the FinTech sector May 27, 2015 Britain's FinTech sector is a particularly bright spot in the UK’s recovering economy. Investment in London FinTech grew by 136 per cent last year, with the capital receiving 42 per cent of all European FinTech investment in 2014. But one less-discussed aspect of this is the potential impact on talent within the wider financial services [...]
Flying off the scale: Fever-Tree’s Tim Warrillow talks malaria, crane strikes and private equity May 25, 2015 We're seeing a renaissance; it’s incredibly exciting. People are better educated and the market is growing and growing – and quite right too, it’s a great English invention.” Tim Warrillow is talking about the gin and tonic – something the co-founder of maverick drinks company Fever-Tree knows a fair bit about. The gin and [...]
What does it take to get a business to IPO? – Investec Comment May 25, 2015 What is it that drives a company founder to float their business on the stock market and do an initial public offering (IPO)? The obvious point is that they want to raise capital to fund their growth and/or provide an exit for current shareholders. By entering the public markets, a company can tap into a [...]
Crowdcube’s Luke Lang on what sort of people invest on crowdfunding platforms May 20, 2015 1. Smart money invests over lunch The most popular time to invest is at lunchtime and straight after work, between 5-6pm The online investment model is perfect for professional people who can find, review and invest in a variety of businesses, at a pace that suits their busy lifestyle. The majority of our investors [...]
Financial challengers Zopa and Metro Bank join forces to bring peer-to-peer lending and high street banking together May 19, 2015 Peer-to-peer lender Zopa has teamed up with challenger bank Metro Bank to lend funds through the latter's marketplace. The deal marks the first of its kind in the UK as Metro Bank, already lending funds to Zopa's consumer borrowers, recognises peer-to-peer (P2P) lending as a new asset class. Zopa's chief executive Giles Andrews described it [...]
